1. Please refer to the CBEC Circular No. 33/2016 dated 22.07.2016 as amended, hereinafter referred to as the "Master Circular" regarding the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programme. Para 3.1.9 of the Master Circular states that "In particular, the AEO Programme Manager shall take into account the possible difficulties for MSMEs in meeting with these eligibilities conditions and criteria under paras 3.3 and 3.5 to make the above AEO certificates more available to MSMEs."
2.
In line with the Prime Minister's Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan to support
MSMEs against the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, CBIC has examined the
difficulties faced by MSMEs while applying for AEO accreditation. Accordingly,
the Board has decided to relax the entire gamut of compliance and security
requirements for MSMEs. The relaxation has been carried out to ensure that the
MSMEs are facilitated through rationalized compliance requirements (MSME
Annexure 1 & 2) and minimum but effective security requirements (MSME
Annexure 3).
3.
Accordingly, the Board has decided to facilitate MSMEs by further relaxing the
current accreditation process and reducing the compliance burden for their AEO
accreditation. The procedural modifications/relaxations for AEO accreditation
of MSMEs are as under:
i.
The eligibility requirement of handling
a minimum of 25 documents during the last financial year has been relaxed to 10
documents, subject to handling at least 5 documents in each half-year period
of the preceding financial year (Ref.: Para 3.1.7 of the Master Circular).
ii.
The requirement for the applicant to have "business activities for at
least three financial years preceding the date of application" has been
relaxed to two financial years. (Ref.: Para 3.1.6 of the Master Circular).
iii.
The qualifying period for legal and financial compliance has been reduced from
'the last three financial years' to 'the last two financial years'. (Ref.:
Paras 3.2 & 3.4 of the Master Circular).
iv.
For AEO Tl and T2 accreditation, the present annexures i.e., Annexure A, B, C,
D, E.I-E.4 have been supplanted with two annexures viz. MSME Annexure I and 2.
Similar rationalized annexures 1 and 2 are presently being utilized for AEO Tl
accreditation only in accordance with the CB1C Circular No. 26/2018-Customs
dated 10.08.2018.
v.
For AEO T2 certification, the present annexures i.e., Annexure E.5.1-E.5.7 for
physical verification have been rationalized to a single annexure viz. MSME
Annexure 3. The rationalization has been carried out to ensure that the
security requirements for an MSME are objective and cover the minimum
verifiable security criteria. (Ref.: Para 3.5 of the Master Circular).
vi.
The time limit for processing of MSME AEO Tl & AEO T2 application has been
reduced to fifteen working days (presently one month) and three months
(presently six months) respectively after the submission of complete documents
for priority processing by customs zones.
vii.
The benefit of relaxation in the furnishing of Bank Guarantee for AEOs has been
further relaxed to 25% from 50% and 10% from 25% of that required to be
furnished by an importer/exporter who is not an AEO certificate holder, for
MSME AEO Tl and MSME AEO T2 entities respectively (Ref.: Para 3.5 of the Master
Circular).
4.
The aforestated relaxations shall apply only to an applicant who has a valid
MSME certificate from the line-Ministry. Further, the approved MSME must ensure
their continuous MSME status during the validity of its AEO certification, if
granted.
Source: Cir. 54/2020-Cus Dt: 15.12.2020
